Drum-type humidifier



- Oct. 7, 1969 Ni-W. SHERWOOD DRUM-TYPE HUMIDIFIER Filed June 5, 1968 v J, IIIIIIIII INVENTOR NORMAN w. SHERWOOD BY M 1. i

ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,471,133 DRUM-TYPE HUMIDIFIER Norman W. Sherwood, Scottsdale, Ariz., assignor to Me- Graw-Edison Company, Elgin, Ill., a corporation of Delaware Filed June 3, 1968, Ser. No. 734,118 Int. Cl. F24f 3/14 US. Cl. 261-91 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A humidifier having a drum rotated to pass its porous periphery successively through water confined in a container, where there is a positive drive for the drum including teeth integral with the drum periphery and a powered drive gear engaging the drum teeth and further where open top bearing mounts and a retractable spring biased support of the drive gear easily accomodate complete removal of the drum from the humidifier.

Portable humidifiers are used commonly in cool climates to add moisture to the heated dry air for improved occupant comfort and health. One type humidifier rotates a drum on a horizontal axis to pass its porous periphery through water, and afterwards forces air through the wet drum periphery and discharges this moistened air to the desired atmosphere. In portable units where a low air flow is desired to avoid draft discomfort, a large humidifying surface is needed and consequently the drum becomes quite large, even two or three feet in diameter. Under such cases, it is difiicult to drive such a large drum economically while yet permitting ready removal of the drum from the unit for cleaning or other purposes.

This invention relates to an improved mounting and drive arrangement for the rotating drum of a drum-type humidifier. Specifically, cooperating bearing means between the case and drum rotatably support the drum and further can be separated to permit removal of the drum, and a positive drive where one side plate of the drum has formed integrally thereon peripheral gear teeth that cooperate with a retractable spring-biased drive gear that engages the drum gear teeth for driving the drum and that is moved away from the drum gear teeth to remove the drum. Since the drive gear and drum gear are in a positive interlocked driving relationship and a minimum of unneeded bearing drag need be generated, and further since the drum gear is peripheral and at the maximum leverage position, a minimum power source will suflice. This is in direct contrast to the friction wheel drives where substantially bearing load must be applied to exert any friction driving force on the drum.

A main object of this invention is to provide in a drum type humidifier having a large drum requiring a large driving force to move it properly through water, an improved drum drive having gear teeth formed integrally of the drum at its periphery and having a drive gear mounted to engage the drum gear to drive the drum with a positive driving force.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved drum mounting which includes opposed drum shafts and opposed case bearing mounts each including an open top slot that remova'bly receives one drum shaft, and further to a drum drive including a drive gear mounted above the drum center axis and movable to engage integral teeth formed on the drum periphery to drive the drum, or to be laterally spaced therefrom to permit the complete removal of the drum from the humidifier.

These and other objects will be more fully understood after reviewing the following specification, the accompanying drawing forming a part thereof, wherein:

FIG. 1 is an elevational sectional view as seen generally from line 1-1 in FIG. 2, of a portable humidifier for which the subject invention forms an improvement;

FIG. 2 is a top sectional view as seen generally from line 2-2 in FIG. 1;

1 FIE. 3 is an enlarged view similar to a portion of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view as seen generally from line 4-4 in FIG. 2.

Referring now to the drawing and to FIGS. 1 and 2 in particular, the humidifier 10 is shown and includes a case 12 formed of sheet metal or plastic and appropriately supported on casters 14 to be portable. Bottom wall 16 of the case 12 supports thereon a pan or container 18 which has an open top and which is filled to an appropriate level with water. The side walls 20 of the case 12 are connected to the bottom wall 16 and extend upwardly beyond and define a substantial space above the container 18 and are closed by top wall 22. Within the confinement of the case, a drum 24 is mounted to rotate about its longitudinal center axis to pass its periphery progressively through the container 18 adjacent the bottom wall thereof and through the space above the water.

The drum 24 is formed of two spaced side walls 30 and 32, one side wall 30 being solid and the opposite side wall 32 being basically open and having spaced radial arms 34 between a hub 36 and a peripheral ring 38. Cross members 40 spaced at regular but large intervals about the circumference of the drum connect the side walls 30 and 32 together, and a mat 42 extends completely around the drum periphery supported on the cross members. Preferably, the mat is of a porous or open celled material which readily picks up or absorbs water as it is passed through the container and readily transmits the water as moisture to air forced through it.

To provide an air flow, a fan 44 driven by a motor 46 is mounted within intake opening 48 in the case to force air through the open wall 32 of the drum into the confinement of the drum 24, and subsequently through wetted mat 42 to the interior of the case 12. The moistened air is discharged from the case through openings 50 in the case appropriately located to provide uniform low velocity discharge to the surrounding atmosphere. The open wall 32 of the drum is located closely adjacent interior case wall 52 so that most of the air delivered by fan 44 to the interior of the drum is forced through the mat 42. The motor 46 and fan 44 are supported by radial arms 56 across the cylindrical opening 48 to offer low resistance intake of air to the drum interior.

The drum 24 is rotatably mounted within the case, each of the drum walls 30 and 32 having at its center point opposed shafts 60 including bearing section 62 and adjacent opposing shoulders 64, and the case 12 having receiving bracket 66 on the front wall and receiving bracket 67 on the intermediate walls. Each bracket 66 and 67 extends upwardly and defines an upwardly opened generally V-shaped recess or slot 70, the lower end of each being rounded as a journal for the bearing surface on the shaft. The bracket slots 70 are opposed on a horizontal axis to rotate the drum on such an inclination.

The drive for the drum includes a motor 74 supported on arm 80, which arm in turn is pivoted at its lower end 82 to the interior case wall 52. The interior wall 52 has a slotted opening 84 through which drive shaft 85 extends, and a gear 86 is keyed to the drive shaft. Preferably, the motor is a relatively low horsepower synchronous motor geared down by an appropriate gear train to the low r.p.m.. output shaft 85. The gear 86 has inner teeth section 88 surrounded on its opposite sides by opposing plates or guides 90, and these guides straddle the side Wall 32. The drum wall 32 in turn has a plurality of gear teeth 92 which mesh with the teeth 88 on the drive gear 86, and the straddling guides 90 maintain the drum gear teeth 92 in contact with the driver gear. Moreover, a spring 94 between the case at mount 95 and the arm 80 biases the drive gear normally against the drum gear teeth 92. The spring 94 can be extended, however, to swing the drive gear from contact with the drum gear and the open top bearing slots 70 accommodate the vertical disengagement of the drum from the brackets and the complete removal of the drum from the case. To accommodate this removal, the top wall 22 of the case is either hinged in an appropriate manner to one of the side wall 20 or otherwise is totally removable to provide that the case has an open top through which the drum can be withdrawn.

It will be readily understood that rotation of the drum initially wets the fibrous mat and then passes the wet mat through the case so that air can be forced through the mat to pick up moisture therefrom and be discharged to the atmosphere. The positive drive uniformly rotates the drum with a minimum output power and friction drag even when the water level in the container is high and the load large. The spring bias and movable mount of the drive gear, as well as the slotted bearing mount for the drum, permit the easy removal of the drum from the case.

What is claimed is:

1. A drum-type humidifier comprising the combination of a case; an open top container for water supported within the case; opposed bearing means on the case; a drum having opposed side walls and an interconnecting peripheral wall, one side wall and the peripheral wall being open; opposed bearing means on the drum side walls, and the drum bearing means cooperating with the case bearing means to accommodate rotation of the drum within and to permit removal of the drum from the case; a mat of porous material over the peripheral drum wall adapted upon rotation of the drum to pass through the water in the container and subsequently to pass within the case above the water, means adjacent the one open drum side wall for forcing air into the drum for discharge through the wetted mat to the case, and vents in the case for air discharge to the surrounding atmosphere; drive means to rotate the drum, including a drum gear having teeth integral with a drum side wall and disposed continuously about the periphery thereof and a drive gear engageable with the drum gear, means to support the drive gear for engagement with and for separation from the drum gear, and means to rotate the drive gear for rotation of the drum; and said drum being removable from the case upon the separation of the drive gear from the drum gear.

2. A drum humidifier according to claim 1, wherein the one drum side wall is formed from a single piece having a central hub, radial spokes from the hub, and an outer ring integral with the spokes, and wherein the drum gear is integral with the outer ring.

3. A drum humidifier according to claim 1, wherein the case hearing means includes opposed brackets having open top slots which align with one another, and wherein the drum bearing means include opposed shafts which rotatably and removably fit within the slots.

4. A drum humidifier according to claim 1, wherein the drive gear is supported on a lever which in turn is pivoted to the case, and wherein spring means between the case and lever resiliently urge the drive gear into engagement with the drum gear.

5. A drum humidifier according to claim 4, wherein the drive gear includes opposing guide plates adjacent the teeth on the drive gear that operatively straddle the teeth on the drum gear to maintain the gears engaged.

6. A drum-type humidifier comprising an open top container for water; a drum having opposed side walls and an interconnecting peripheral wall, one side wall and the peripheral wall being open; bearing means for supporting the drum for rotation about a generally horizontal axis; a mat of porous material over the peripheral drum wall adapted upon rotation of the drum to pass through the water in the container and subsequently to pass above the water, means disposed adjacent the one open side wall for forcing air into the drum for discharge through the wetted mat and to the surrounding atmosphere; and drive means to rotate the drum, including a drum gear having a plurality of teeth integral with a drum side wall and disposed continuously about the periphery thereof, a drive gear, means to support the drive gear in driving relationship with the drum gear, said support means including a lever pivoted at one end to a stationary mount and supporting at the other end the drive gear operable to move the drive gear into engagement with or remove the drive gear from engagement with the drum gear, spring means resiliently urging the drive gear into engagement with the drum gear, and means to rotate the drive gear for rotation of the drum.

7. A drum humidifier according to claim 6, wherein said drive gear rotating means includes an electric synchronous motor and a gear reduction train powered thereby and having an output shaft, and wherein the drive gear is keyed to the output shaft.

8. A drum humidifier according to claim 7, wherein the drive gear includes opposing guide plates adjacent the teeth on the drive gear that operatively straddle the teeth on the drum gear to maintain the gears engaged.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Re. 26,243 8/1967 Hotchkiss et al. 26l92 X 3,306,591 2/1967 Valazza 261-92 X 3,403,786 10/1968 Luthi 210-406 X HARRY B. THORNTON, Primary Examiner STEVEN H. MARKOWITZ, Assistant Examiner 

